Adjustable holders



y 24, 19 5 G. MEYER 2,708,777

ADJUSTABLE HOLDERS Filed Feb. 26, 1951 FIG. I FIG. 2 FIG. 6 FIG. 7

INVENTOR GERSON MEYERS,

ATTORNEY United States Patent 2,708,777 ADJUSTABLE HOLDERS Gerson Meyer, Chicago, Ill., assignor to Drapin Corporation, Baitimore, Md., a corporation of Maryland Application February 26, 1951, Serial No. 212,763 16 Claims. (Cl. 24-86) This invention relates to adjustable holders and has for its principal object the-provision of a simple inexpensive holder consisting of two relatively movable rods preferably though not necessarily parallel and a third member secured to one of the rods and in which the other rod is incrementally adjustable.

A further object of the invention is to provide an adjustable holder consisting of two parallel rods and a spring clip receiving one of the rods in an adjustable manner and being detachably secured to the other rod so there is no relative movement between the clip and the rod.

A further object of the invention is to provide a simple drapery fastener which can readily be hung on the rail or slide of a drapery holder in such manner that the drapery can be raised or lowered at any portion by a chosen amount from a very small distance to a considerable alteration in height. A further object of the invention is to provide an adjustable drapery fastener comprising a pin which engages the drapery either by a clip or a spring or other means and which is adjustable along an anchoring rod by means of a spring clip detachably secured to both the pin and the anchoring rod but in such manner as to permit slight upward or downward movement of the pin and the drapery with respect to the anchoring rod.

Incidental features of the invention concern the lowering of the center of gravity so that the drapery heading may stand straighter than it would with any previously known pin or hook and provision whereby the anchoring rod can rotate about its own axis in order, for example, to prevent rubbing at the point of overlap.

In hanging draperies it frequently occurs that a slight alteration will have to be made, sometimes for the entire drapery, sometimes for a small portion of the width of the drapery. The current method is to remove the pin and reinsert this in about the chosen place. A great advantage of the present invention is that the anchoring member and the slide to which it is hooked can he slipped along the horizontal traverse rod or rail and if any alteration is to be made, it is made very simply by adjusting the position of the drapery without altering the relation between the drapery and the pins, and without unhooking any anchoring member from its slide.

In the drawings:

Figure l is a side elevation.

Figure 2 is a front view.

Figure 3 is a section on line 33 of Figure 2.

Figure 4 is a partial side view.

Figure 5 is a view of the blank from which the spring clip is made.

Figure 6 is a modification wherein the pin is permanently secured to the clip, and

Figure 7 is a modification wherein clips are used instead of prongs.

The invention primarily consists of means for securing two parallel rods 10 and 11 so that one of them has relative movement with respect to the other, this being accomplished thru a clip 12 having a base 14 with two diverging arms 15, each provided with a hole 16 of a diameter a bit larger than the diameter of the rod 11 which passes freely thru the two holes 16 when the arms 15 are pressed together but which is clamped very firmly in the holes 16 when the two arms spring away from each other and grip the rod 11.

The base 14 is connected to the locking portion 18 by means of a neck 19 which is bent so that the locking portion 18 is parallel with the base 14. The locking portion 2,708,777 Patented May 24, 1955 is secured to the rod 10 either permanently or detachably, the latter being preferred. A very simple way of forming a positive connection is to bend downward the two ends 28 of the locking portion so that the ends form prongs which engage the rod 10 which may be smooth or may be knurled but preferably has notches 21 in position to be engaged by the down-turned ends 20 which preferably are recessed as at 23 the more firmly to engage the rod or the notch 21. In all forms the clip is fast to the pin so there is no relative movement.

The rod 11 at one end is preferably bent to form a hook 25 to be hung over a horizontal rail of any kind customarily used in window decoration and preferably in the hole of a right angular slide movable along a C-section traverse drapery rod. The end 26 of the hook is preferably blunt and it is my preference that it shall not extend so far from the axis that the rod 11 will be interfered with in turning 360. The rod 10 is preferably fashioned to form a drapery pin. For this purpose the lower portion is bent as at 30 and has at its end a fastening means of some kind preferably a prong 31 to engage the drapery. Above the clip 12 the rod It has an offset 33 terminating in a curved portion 34 having at its top a fastening means which can be a clip as in the modification but is preferably a point 35. If desired the curved portion 34 may be straight as at 34a in Fig. 6. The preferred form is desirable as it aids in keeping the drapery heading a bit more erect and thus in better design lines. The curve is a slight one, the radius being about twice as great as the overall vertical height of the pin and the curve is normally concave with respect to the axis of the anchoring member or rod 11.

As best seen in Fig. 5, the base has a slot 38 in line with the two holes 16. This is an optional feature and is desirable in that it firmly seats the pin 10 and it also permits the two rods 10 and 11 to approach each other more closely. In Fig. 6 the clip consists of the base 14 only and may or may not include the slot 38. In this modification the pin 10 is welded to the clip 12a, and the arms 15 are exactly as in the form shown in Figures 1 to 5 but the slight cusp 39 near the bottom of the lower hook is omitted. This inturned projection shown in the preferred form is quite convenient in holding the drapery to the rod 14) of the drapery pin.

The modification shown in Fig. 7 differs merely in that the points 31 and 35 are replaced by spring clasps 40 and 41 at the two ends of the drapery pin or rod 10. This modification is particularly advantageous in securing the drapery at a pleat. The clasps merely grasp the top and bottom of the pleats and avoid the use of the prongs. The anchoring rod 11, as previously remarked, in all the modifications can be turned with respect to the clip. This is advantageous under certain conditions, for example, it prevents rubbing at the point of overlap where the two draperies cross each other as, for example, in the center of a window.

In forming the device, the pin and the anchoring 113.1 ber, both of plated, tempered spring steel wire, formed in an appropriate machine and the stamping of Fig. 5 is formed by bending the arms 15 and the downturned ends 20 to the preferred angle and the blank is then bent on itself by forming the neck 19 of U-shape which brings the portions 14 and 18 substantially parallel and the arms 15 and 2t) somewhat parallel altho I prefer that the arms 15 shall be bent at a greater angle. The annealed spring steel clip is hardened after it is bent. With the clip thus formed the two ends 15 are pressed together which allows the arms to receive easily the rod 11. The pin 10 is now snapped into the clip from one side, the two triangularly notched ends 20 readily yielding and the ends 20 thereupon grip the rod or the notches 21. The pin consequently is firmly anchored to the clip but the assembly of pin and clip is readily movable on the anchoring member 11 which, like the rod 10, could be knurled or roughened altho in practice I have not found this necessary.

What I claim is:

1.1n an adjustable drapery holder of the character described, an anchoring member adapted to be supported on a horizontal rail and having a generally vertical portion on which a drapery pin may be adjusted up and down while carrying a portion of the drapery, a drapery pin supported on the vertical portion of the anchoring member and having means to secure the drapery to the pin to suspend the drapery, and a clip fast to the pin and having manually operable resilient means to firmly grip the anchoring member when the resilient means is released, said resilient means being movable to release the grip so that the pin may be adjusted up and down on the generally vertical portion of the anchoring member by amounts varying from incremental to a distance substantially equal to the length of the vertical portion.

2. The combination of claim 1 in which the resilient means includes two resiliently held diverging arms having holes therein loosely fittin. the vertical portion of the anchoring member so that relative movement of the member and pin is permitted when the arms are pressed together, and the pin is locked on the member when the arms are released, whereby when the arms are pressed together by the thumb and fore finger of one hand the pin together with the drapery thereon may readily be moved to correct position while held by said one hand.

3. The combination of claim 1 in which the pin has a lower hook, an upper portion, and a central horizontal offset portion nearer the bottom of the hook than the top of the upper portion, said offset being located above the clip.

4-. The combination of claim 1 in which the anchoring member is of wire and the vertical portion has at its upper end a hook to slip over the rail and be supported thereby.

5. The combination of claim 1 in which the anchoring member is of wire having a reverse bend at its top for engaging a drapery rail, and the pin, likewise of wire stock, has two portions, separated by an offset, one of which portions of the pin is parallel to the vertical portion of the anchoring member.

6. The combination of claim 1 in which the pin is centrally offset above the clip, the portion of the pin above the clip is concave with respect to the generally vertical portion of the anchoring member, and the bottom of the pin is curved upward to a pointed end, the bottom of the pin being nearer to the clip than is the top of the pin.

7. The combination of claim 1 in which the generally vertical portion is a straight piece of wire and is spaced from the central part of the pin by less than three times the diameter of the wire, the anchoring member has a drapery rail engaging upper end, the pin is offset away from the anchoring member above the clip, has an inwardly curved upper end terminating in a drapery heading engaging point, and has a bottom U-bend terminating in an upstanding point adjacent the clip, whereby the load of the drapery will be applied below the clip with a consequent low center of gravity and a resulting erect or vertical position of the drapery heading.

8. The combination of claim 1 in which the pin is permanently secured to the clip, and the pin is a single piece of wire.

9. The combination of claim 1 in which the means on the pin are spring clasps, one at each end of the pin.

10. The combination of claim 1 in which the pin has indentations in its vertical portion and the clip has a pair of locking ends each engaging the indentations at an angle of roughly 45 to prevent relative vertical movement of the clip and pin so that both will move as a unit on the vertical rod.

11. A drapery clip including a slotted base to receive a drapery pin, two integral diverging arms extending from opposite ends of the base, each arm having a perforation therein, said perforations being adapted to receive loosely a drapery anchoring member when the ends of the arms are pressed together, and an integral locking portion rising from one side of the base parallel to the slot, and reversely bent to overlie the pin and thereby hold the pin in the slot of the base of the clip.

12. The device of claim 11 in which the locking portion includes two inturned gripping extensions each slotted at its end to engage the pin.

13. In combination, an anchoring member having a rod portion, a drapery pin, and a clip formed of a steel stamping and comprising a major elongated base having therein two spaced holes and a slot extending lengthwise between the holes, a minor elongated locking portion having notched downturned ends, and a neck integral with the base and locking portion, the neck being bent U-shaped to bring the central part of the locking portion into parallelism with the central part of the base, the drapery pin resting in the slot and being engaged by the two downturned ends of the locking portion, and the anchoring member passing freely thru the two said holes when the two ends of the major base are pressed together, the clip resiliently locking the pin to the anchoring member when the two ends of the base are released.

14. A three-piece drapery fastener comprising an anchoring member having a generally vertical rod-like portion and means at its upper end to engage a horizontal drapery rail; a generally vertical drapery pin having means at its bottom to engage the drapery, an intermediate portion, an offset at the upper end of the intermediate portion, and a curved portion above the offset;

'. and a clip movable up and down on said vertical rod-like portion, said clip having a generally vertical base adjacent said intermediate portion, two resilient diverging arms extending from the base, one at the top of the base and the other at the bottom of the base, said arms each having a hole to receive loosely the rod-like portion of the anchoring member when the ends of the arms are pressed together to decrease the divergence, and means, integral with the clip, engaging the drapery pin between its bottom and the curved portion to lock the clip to the pin so that the clip and the pin may be moved up and down as a unit on the rod-like portion of the anchoring member when the latter is supported on a rail; said arms when released gripping the anchoring member firmly to prevent relative movement of the anchoring member and the drapery pin, whereby a portion of the drapery supported by the pin may be raised or lowered with respect to the rail by an incremental amount without removing the drapery from the pin, removing the anchoring member from the rail, or disturbing the other pins supporting the drapery.

15. The fastener of claim 14 in which the member and the pin are of wire stock, the anchoring member has a hook at its upper end and the drapery pin has a hook at its lower end.

16. The fastener of claim 14 in which the clip is of sheet metal and the means integral with the clip and engaging the drapery pin includes a prong.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 588,886 Smith Aug. 24, 1897 1,492,872 Wade May 6, 1924 1,631,209 Jewell June 7, 1927 1,841,061 Sarkisian Jan. 12, 1932 1,959,505 Stader May 22, 1934 1,983,467 Kluglein Dec. 4, 1934 2,106,438 Schwartz Jan. 25, 1938 2,448,637 Swanson Sept. 7, 1948 2,592,478 Sherman Apr. 8, 1952 2,602,205 Davis July 8, 1952 

